Device for raising sunken vessels.



"J. T COWLES,

DEVICE FOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS.

APPLICATION FILED APR.25. 1914.

1 1 6 8 9 Patented June 13, 1916.

2 SHEETSSHEET 23 1' d 172/ 1 2227* ,L/U/Z/b (Towsaj 1. T cowuas, DEVICEFOR RAISING SUNKEN VESSELS. APPLICATION FILED APILZS, I914} 1,186,889, Iv Patented June 13, 1916.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- will ' V Eva/i J/uz/ f CowZes UNITED STAT VJOHN r.cowLEs, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

DEVICE FOR RAISING SUNKEN' VESSELS.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN T. Cownns, a

' citizen ofthe United States, residing at Chicago, in the county ofCook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and usefulImprovements in Devmesfor Raising Sunken Vessels, of which the followingis a specification.

The invention relates to a device in the nature of a harpoon adaptedtobe operated beneath the surface of relatively deep bodies of waterformaking secure attachment to sunken vessels in particular, in oi der -toraise them to the surface, and it is the object of the inventionto-produce an improved de- 1 vice that may be operated from the surfaceofthe water, articularly under conditions where the dept of the watero'vertheobject to be raised is so great that it is impractical orimpossible for human beings to descendto such depth .to make attachmentof lifting cables, or chains, orother lifting objects to the sunkenvessel or object'to be raised. A further [object of the invention is toprovide an improved device so that when once the vessel or other objectin the water to be raised-is located, the device upon contacting withthe object to be raised will be capable, by its own wei ht, ofpiercingthe object to be raised, and thereby firmly at- "tachingitselffthereto for the purpose of raising the vessel or other objectto'which the device shallbe attached. A; further object of the inventionis to provide an improved device of the character described which shallbe provided with i piercing means and associated driving" means by whichthe piercing means may be caused to pierce the wall or-outer covering of.a vessel or' other object to be raised, whereby the device may befirmly attached p to the vessel or object to be raised."

A further object of the invention is to provide. improved'meanswhichshall be inoperative during the. operation of piercing the wall ofthe vessel or. other object'to be raised, but which upon the piercing ofthe same by. the device shall operate to firmly and securely attach thedevice to the vessel or object to be raised. Other'objectsoftheinvention will appear from the following description of theinvention, which is directed to the preferred embodiment thereof and isillustrated in the drawing attached hereto and forming Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented June 13, 1916.

Application filed April 25, 1914. Serial No. 834,295.

of this specification, and finally more par: ticularly describedin theappended claims.

In the said drawing: Figure 1 is aside elevation of my improved devicewith a small portion only of the'lifting and controlling cables beingshown, the remainder being broken away. Fig. 2 is a view taken at rightangles to the view of Fig. 1, a portion of the upper part of the devicebeing shown removed'and the lower portion thereof being in section, inorder to disclose the details of construction of the interior parts ofthe' device .for attachment to the vessel or other object to be'raised.Fig. 3 is a view illustrating the manner in which the device maybeoperated from a boat or other means floating on the surface of thewater, there being an illustration of the boat 'or other object to beraisedshown lying on the bottom of a body of water. enlarged Viewshowing arts of the device in vertical section and disclosing details ofconstruction of the means for attaching the device to the vessel orother object to be raised. Fig. 5 is a detail sectional view on line 5+5of Fig. 2. Fig. 6 is a similar. view on line 66 of the same figure.Fig.' 7 is a top plan view showing the cable attaching devices insection, being taken on line 77 of Fig. 1. Fig. 8 is an enlarged detailview of the device for looking or securing the attaching means in theinoperative position.

Fig. 4 1s an.

It is well known that it is impossible to Y use diving apparatus forpermitting living beings to descend beneath the surface of the water inrelatively deep bodies of water to a distance greater than a few hundredfeet, on account of the water pressure, which pressure is augmented inavery rapidly increasing ratio according to the depth. Therefore, inattempting to -raise objects from the bottom of relatively deep bodiessupport near the surface of the water, from which the device is lowered,while C represents a sunken vessel desired to be raised, lying upon thebottom of a body of water, which bottom is indicated by the referencecharacter D.

The reference character E, in Fig. 3, des1gnates generally one or moreflexible cables, by which the device A is operated.

The essential feature of my invent on is the construction of the harpoondevice, indicated generally by the reference character A of Fig. 3, thedetails of which are shown in the remaining views, and acornplete sideelevation view of this devlce 1s shown in F g. 1.

Reference numeral 10 designates gener ally a solid cast or forgedmetallic pointed instrument or harpoon, the lower extremity of which-isindicated at 10,and is of pyramidal form, this pointed port1on beinghardened, if necessary and desirableito enable thedevice to pierce themetallic covering or plates of a sunken vessel. The member 10 ispreferably made of a size and of solid metal construotionto weigh aboutone and one-half tons, although for various conditions and depths ofwater the size and weight of this member may be varied. The shank ofthis pointed member 10 is preferably constructed at its upper extremityto form a peripheral-shoulder, as indicated at 10", and above theshoulder 10 is a gradually diminishing section in the form of thefrustum of'a cone, indicated by the reference character 10, thisportion-being formedintegral with the body portion of the piercingmember 10 andbeing provided with a screw-threaded opening in its upperex- "tremity adapted to take the threaded eyebolt 10 into which theoperating lifting cable 11 is threaded or looped, as indicated at 11,the free end of the loop being secured to the'body of the cable bysuitable fastening means, as'indicated at 12.

It will be apparent that the purpose of the spear-like pyramidal pointedlower ex- I tremity 10 of the device is for the purpose of piercing thewall, hull, or armor of a ves sel or other object to be raised, and thefunction of the device is to secure a firm hold upon the hull or wall ofthe vessel or object .to be raised, in order that the cable 11 may beeffective to exert its full lifting strength,

" -if desired, upon the object to be raised. Un- Qder some conditions,as where the hull of the vessel is of relatively thin metal, the

Weight ofthe device 10 upon coming in contact With the outer shell orcovering of the v object to be raised, may be effective to pierce devicemay the same, and in order that the secure a firm lifting hold, toprevent its withdrawal after the piercing of the shell or plate of thevessel, I provide improved means which -shall be normally folded out ofthe way, to afford the device a relatively encircling member 15, asindicated .be pushed up member 10, so that it will clear theupperpivoted members 13 employed, being positioned around the periphery ofthe shank 10 at or near the upper extremity of the tapered portion 10and from each other at angles of approximately ninety ,deg'rees,asillustrated in Figs. 2 and 4: to 6 inclusive. The pins or journals onwhich the members 13 have their hub portions journaled are designated bythe referbeing distributed ence character 14. In order to accommodatethe pivoted members 13, the piercing member 10 is provided with suitablehousings by the cutting away of the material as indicated at 10 15 is ametallic ring, provided with a plurality of radial arms l ir and beingof a'size adapted to pass freely over the shank of the member 10, whichlatter is preferably constructed of a slightly conical'form, en-,

so that its largest diamlarged downwardly, eter is in the neighborhoodof the housings of the pivoted members or barbs 13.

In operating the device, when by the impact of the same due to themomentum imparted by its weight, or other means, the pointed end 10" haspierced through the wall, hull, or outer covering of the vessel orotherobject to be raised, the device is passed inwardly through the openingthus formed, past the pivoted members or barbs 13,which are designed tobe normally held in the closed position in the housings 10 in Fig.. 2,and will be apparent that the contact of the hull, wall, the arms 15 ofthe ring15'will cause it towardly over the shank of the by the or shellthus pierced, with extremities of the folded members or barbs 1 13,which movement of this retaining mem-- ber ,will free the barbs13 andcause their free extremities to be"projected outwardly on their pivotalconnections 14, under the action of the flat springs 16, which aresecured to the inner walls of each ofIthe casings, until their innerextremities 13? contact with the shoulders 10 (see; F-ig 2,

which latter are preferably formed integral; with the body of the member10 and:- are produced by ofi'sets in' the housings 10, as

ill t t d. The. pivotedvmembers or i 13 will by this; construction besecurely held in their extended position at approximately right anglesto the longitudinal axis of the p1ercing member 10,; and willtpreventthe withdrawal ofthe same-from thewalls of the vessel intended to beraiseiwhich walls;

such parts as are .tobe pierced and to strike are indicated onthe'drawing, Fig. 4, by the reference character 17.

Although the piercing member of my device ma v be constructed of solidsteel and, under ordinary circumstances, for the heaviest class of workwould weigh about one and one-half tons, for deep sea work I provi e asupplemental weight, preferably in the form,- of a two-part casing orshell, as 7 indicated by the reference characters and 21, these partsbeing substantially duplicates and having'coiiperating ears 20 and 21cast thereon, by which they may be secured together with suitableretaining bolts,

as indicated in the drawings. InFig. 2 is shown theiinner side of one ofthe members 21, from which the details of construction a. conicalopening, as-indicated at 21,adapt- 1 ed to register over the conicalupper end 10 of the member 10, the lower extremity of the same beingadapted to contact with .the peripheral shoulder 10 on the member 10 atthe bottom of the conical part 10. The upper extremity of the members20, 21 on their inner side are closed except fora vertical slot asindicated at 21, through which is adaptedto pass the main cable 11, andon either sideof the opening 21 there are eyebolts 22, adapted to takethe cables 23 and 24, which latter are designed for the purpose ofoperating the supplemental weight member 20, 21, by sliding relativelyto the main cable 11. -Under conditions where the combined plates 20 and21, may be lowered from the surface'of .the water; by means of thecables 23and24, until itsglower extremity shall pass over the conicaltapered por- 7 weight of this part and the-supplementary tion 10 of thepiercing member and come in contact with the peripheral shoulder 10thereon. x Y

The preferredmanner of operating'the device to enable thepointed'portion 10 to pierce the armor orhull of the vessel or otherobject to be raised is to allow the pointed portion '10 to comeiii-contact with the same a heavy blojw due to the Weight of thepiercing member 10,- or' the, combined members 20-and 21. If a poundingaction It is preferred that the combined weight of the supplementaryweight members 20, 21 shall be about five one-half tons, which wouldmake the entire weight oftho device, exclusiv f the cables, "abo Seven-tons,, although these weights and proportions may be varied accordingto the conditions involved in any given case where at vessel or otherobject in relatively deep water is desired to beraised to the surface.

In Fig. 3 the .manner of ope at ng he device, which is designatedgenerally b the reference character A, from a boat I or other objectfloating on the water is graph ically illustrated, the cables 11, 23 and24% being desigiiated generally by the reference character ,the vesselor other object to be raised being indicated by the reference characterC.

In the use of my improved device for raising metallic armored vessels inparticular, it will be seen that the essential features are the pointedpenetrating device the case, for example, of raising any given vessel toinsure that the combined tensile strength of the cables and theattaching de- .vices 10 shall be sufficient to raise the required load.The devices 10, in combination with the supplementary weights 20 and 21,"may be lowered and the piercing device 10 caused to engage the objectto be raised in the manner described, after which-the sup plementaryweight members 20 and 21, by the operation of the cables 23 and 24, maybe lifted to the surface of the water-and utilized in conjunction withanother harpoon or piercing member 10 and its correspondingv cable 11 tocause the member 10 to be carried to the object to be raised and topierce the shell or hull of the same for securing anv operativeengagement therewith, and this operation of suchlifting devices may becontinued until the requisite number of cables 11 is attached to thehull of the vessel or other object to be raised by the l arpoon engagingdevices 10, afttir Which,-by the operation of the cables 11 *the vesselor other object may be raised on the piercing to the surface of thewater or to any be secured by lifting the combined supplementary weight20, 21 by the cables 23, 24 and allowing the same to descend and strikea penetrating der 10 of the harpoon member 10.

blow on the peripheral shoul' distance from the surface and supportedupon one or more floating deviccs as boats, barges, or pontoons,whereupon the sunken vessel or object may be towed to any suitable ordesired place for docking.

21 are lifted and priorto the raising of the Object b exerting themaximum pull'u -k.

the cab e 11, additional lifting cables or chains may be dropped andcaught over the projections. or arms30 to'ass'ist the cables 11 inlifting tlief've'sseli -object to be raised.

In order thatthe' ention might be understood the 'deta'l o,.;tl1"epreferred embodiment havebeen-"shdwn and particularly described,'but itis not desired to be limited to the exact details. described, for itwill be apparent that persons skilled in the art may resort'to variousmodifications without departing'fro'm the spirit of-the invention.

' I claim:

1. The combination eta pointed piercing member provided with a pluralityof pivoted 'members,-. a cable secured to the upper extremity thereof, asupplementary weight loosely engaging the supporting .cable of engagewith a portion of the upper extremity of the said piercing member.

2. A device of the described character, comprising a conical or taperedshank increasing in diameter gradually from thetop toward the bottomthereof and being provided at. its 'lower extremity with a pointedpiercing end, pivoted members se cured in housings radiallyarranged nearthe junction of the shank and pointed portions of said device, a ringslidable along the shank of'said device and being adapted to lock saidpivoted members in their closed positions, and elastic meansforoperating said pivoted members to their extended positions whenreleased by said 'ring.

3. In a device of the described character, the combination witha'pointed piercing member, of a plurality of pivotedmembers' securedthereto, a flexible lifting cable se-. cured to the upper extremity ofsaid member, and a supplementary weight being provided withalongitudinally extending interior opening through which the mainlifting cableof the said device is adapted to extend, and cooperatingengaging means on the said supplementary weight and near the upperextremity of said pointed piercing member.

I 4. In a device of the described character, the combination with apointed piercing member, of a plurality of pivoted members securedthereto, a flexible lifting cable secured'to the upper extremity'of saidmember, and a supplementary 'weight being provided with a longitudinallyextending interior opening through which the main lifting cable of thesaid device is adapted to extend, cooperating engaging means on the saidsupplementary weight and near the upper extremity of said pointedpiercing of the said pointed piercing device for opcrating saidsupplementary weight.- the piercing member and being adaptedto mountedon said cable. and resting on the piercing member, and a cable securedto said supplemental weight and adapted-to raise the latterindependently of the piercing member.

I testimony whereof I have signed myg member, and means independent ofthe cable na e to this specification, in the presence'of two subscribingwitnesses, on this 23d of April, A. 11.1914.

' JOHN T. oowLEs.

Witnesses ARTHUR L. SPRINKLE, CHARLES H. SEEM.

copies 0! this patentmay be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe "Commissioner or Patents.

I Washington, D. C.

